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by KNACC



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Bittersweet, F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-07-15 13:31:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7224313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KNACC/pseuds/KNACC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ten years ago, Zer0 unhappily left Gaige to chase down One.  Five years later, he returned to her but Gaige had had a rough few years and is less than excited to see him.  Now five years later, Gaige is doing well and Zer0 is just happy to get to call her his friend.  Gaige has other ideas.  A fix-it fic set five years after one of my tumblr RPs because I couldn't leave well enough alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home

**Author's Note:**

> This is maybe the most self-indulgent thing I've ever written but I think it may have some merit maybe so here it is.

“Hey how are you doing, idiot?” comes across the ECHOnet one day with tons of encryption, no name and no way to trace it back to where it is from but Zer0 knows exactly who sent it.

He carefully makes sure to encrypt his own signal before sending back: “Good. How are you?”

After a few minutes, he gets the reply, “Eh alright… Me and Lydia broke up awhile ago.”

Zer0 frowns. He knows he hasn’t been keeping up very well with his friends on Pandora but last time he’d seen Gaige, they’d been very (some might say nauseatingly) happy. Not that he’s a good judge of these things. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Are you really?”

“Of course. I want you to be happy.”

“Not even a little pleased to hear I’m single again?”

“Not really.” It’s a lie but things are much better this way and he knows it.

There is a long pause and Zer0 figures he must have offended her and is going to go work out and stop thinking about this when he hears his computer beep again. “Ah, so do you finally have someone else in your lonely little life?”

Zer0 grimaces, debating between the truth and a lie. He types and sends before he can think better of it. “There is no one else for me.”

“That’s awfully romantic for a guy who doesn’t want to be with me.”

Zer0 sighs. “I want you to be happy.”

There’s another long pause and Zer0 considers blocking the signal but can’t quite bring himself to cut off this fragile little line on contact with her even after all this time. Finally, she sends back, “Do you think you’ll be swinging by Pandora anytime soon? It’s been awhile since we’ve seen you. I promise I won’t jump you or anything… I just… miss having you around, you know?”

Zer0 considers sending back a solid “No” but he wavers. He’s between jobs, doesn’t have any big threats chasing him and it’s been a long time since he’s seen any of them. Hell, by now Maya and Krieg’s kid has to be… four? He sighs. No real harm in a quick visit, right? “See you in a week.”

****

He’s walking her home from Moxxi’s on his first night back on Pandora and it’s an awful idea. She’s a little tipsy and keeps bumping into him though he’s not sure if the alcohol is really to blame for that. She also waving her arms expansively as she talks about her newest project and he can’t help but smile. Some how, all these years later, she’s alright, has grown into the woman he’d always thought she’d be; the only sign that something’s different is her biotic eyes glowing in the dim light of the street. 

She petters off as they reach the door of her small Sanctuary apartment before looking at him and raising an eyebrow suggestively. “Want to come in?”

Zer0 takes a step back. “No.”

Gaige’s face falls, “You really meant it before? You weren’t just being coy?”

He turns his face away, not wanting to see her reaction. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Gaige takes a step forward. “You’re not going to. I know you had to leave the first time. And I know if I ask you to, you’ll stay now. And it might have taken me awhile but I’m not mad at you anymore, haven’t been for years.”

Zer0 looks back at her and she’s smiling.

“Look, I know you’re busy being emotionally tortured and trying to protect me from yourself but this is a two person decision and I’d like to give it another go. I’ve been with other people and they were great but I don’t know, maybe this is dumb but I feel like we deserve another chance. Like we didn’t get a fair shake the first time?” 

Zer0’s heart leaps a little in his chest but he ignores it and asks an important question instead. “When did you break up with Lydia?”

Gaige scoffs, “Like six months ago… I almost called you right then and there but Maya told me it’d be a bad idea.” She pauses and bites her bottom lip, “It probably would have been, come to think of it.” She perks back up, “But see, now I’m not right off a failed relationship and I still want you… if you want me that is.” 

Gaige keeps getting closer to him and he doesn’t have the heart to pull away, not when she’s saying all the things he hasn’t dared to dream she’d say for years. It takes him a bit but after a moment he manages to say, “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Think about it this way: do you give up every time you fail at something? No because if you did, you wouldn’t be the badass assassin you are today. This is like that, only with emotions and crap.”

Zer0 shakes his head. “This is not like that/ failing is not an option/ not if you’ll get hurt.”

“We’ll go slow, we’ll set up some ground rules, it’ll be fine. What happened before is never going to happen again, we’re different people now.”

He cocks his head. “Then why do you still want me?”

“I said we’re different, not that I don’t still know you. I doubt there’s anyone else in the universe who knows you as well as I do. And inspite of how illusive you’ve been for the last four years, you’ve actually kept in okay touch with me… well for you. So what do you say?”, she grins, “Want to come inside?”

“That doesn’t seem slow,” Zer0 gulps out but he’s second from accepting the offer anyway.

“Yeah,” Gaige says, leaning more and more into his space, “how about a kiss then?”

Zer0 holds his breath and nods. Gaige pulls down on his shoulders and pecks him quite chastly on the helmet. Zer0 groans quietly.

She grins mischievously. “You want a little more then?” she whispers low.

Zer0 nods again, not trusting his voice. She reaches up and unhooks the front visor of his helmet, pushing it upwards so she can see his face, her eyes glowing with an unearthly light as she appraises him. “You look really tired. Are you alright?”

Zer0 nods but as he blinks, his one human eye starts to leak. Gaige wipes at it with her thumb then leans in, just barely brushing her lips against his.

In an instant, Zer0’s got her picked up and held tight against his chest. He’s crying in earnest now, the feeling of her lips and her soft, warm body wrapped up in his arms pushing him over the edge and he’s so happy he can maybe have this again, he might die. He deepens the kiss, just a little and Gaige makes a pleased noise as she kisses him back, her hands clenching at the armor on his back like she never wants him to go anywhere without her again. He’ll be happy to oblige her.

They end up inside only a few minutes later and they don’t even make it to the bed. Zer0 just closes the door and pushes her up against it, all logical thoughts of refraining far from his mind. His helmet comes off first, then his gloves, then her pants. He drops to his knees and she fists her hands in his slightly overgrown hair as he presses bruising kisses between her thighs. As she gets close, she mumbles curses and questions about how he’s still so good but he doesn’t even consider answering as his mouth is already occupied. She comes screaming around his fingers and its a precious, beautiful sound he’d never even hoped to hear again. He doesn’t get long to marvel in it though before she’s pushing him all the way to the floor and pulling off his pants. He doesn’t last long, the feeling of her skin brushing against his and the joy of being this close to her again pushing him over the edge rapidly and he’s pretty sure he should be embarrassed but there doesn’t seem to be room for shame with all the lust and euphoria buzzing around his veins. 

She lays on his chest, both of them still mostly clothed and starts to laugh. “That was not slow in the least.”

“No,” Zer0 says but can’t keep from grinning, “Sorry.”

“It’s you I’m worried about. How long has it been anyway?”

“Ten years,” Zer0 mumbles into her hair, pleased to note it still smells like engine grease and flowery shampoo.

Gaige pulls her head off his chest and looks at him. “Oh god, you weren’t kidding about the whole ‘only me’ shit were you?”

“Letting people in/ and getting attached to them/ isn’t my forte.”

“Yeah, I know but ten years really?” Zer0 breaks eye contact, his lips thinning and Gaige adds, “It’s fine just… don’t you get lonely?”

Zer0 looks at her and raises an eyebrow. “I have friends, like you in fact.”

“Alright,” she sighs, “You liked the sex though yeah?” 

Zer0 starts to chuckle, just a little and Gaige frowns. Zer0 dares to peck her on the lips, still feeling a strange combination of nerves and familiarity at having the right to be physical with her. He smiles, “Of course, I thought it was obvious.”

Gaige shrugs, “Just checking.” She snuggles down into his chest a bit before looking up and saying, “We should probably talk about this more really but first,” she grins, “let me tune up those legs of yours. They sounded awful earlier.”

Zer0 rolls his eyes, “They did not.”

“They did,” Gaige says, sliding down him until she’s perched between his legs. He remembers at that moment that he’s still naked from the waist down which makes him rather self conscious before he reminds himself how silly that is considering what they just did. She barely glances at his dick anyway as she appraises his legs. “Who does your maintenance aside from me?”

“I do and you know it.”

Gaige tsks her tongue. "And yet after all this time, you’re still so sloppy at it.”

“You’re just an elitist,” Zer0 shakes his head.

“I’m the best, I have a right,” Gaige barely contains her smile as she adds, “you know how it goes.”

Zer0 chuckles a little and rolls his eyes.

“Plus,” she says, “in spite of all the crap I give you about it, it is kinda nice to see you still need me.”

“Always,” he says before he can think better of it but Gaige just smiles so that’s alright. He smiles back.

It’s late by the time Gaige gets done with his maintenance so when she invites him to spend the night, he reluctantly agrees. He tries to sleep on the floor but she won’t let him, insisting that he sleeps with her. He gingerly settles himself on the far edge of the bed and Gaige just pulls him close, places her hand on one side of his chest and her head on the other. They don’t make love again but they don’t go right to sleep either, instead staying up and talking about this and that until the sun starts peeking through the windows. And he feels so comfortable and happy and at peace in her arms, he thinks that maybe this is what coming home feels like.


End file.
